o'erthrow in mortal fight.

"'King, I come to crave a favor--
This the boon for which I pray,
That thou give me this Rodrigo
For my wedded lord this day.'"
_Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).

[Sidenote: Marriage of the Cid.] The king, who had suspected for some time
past that the Cid had fallen in love with his fair foe, immediately sent
for him. Rodrigo entered the city with his suite of three hundred men,
proposed marriage to Ximena, and was accepted on the spot. His men then
proceeded to array him richly for his wedding, and bound on him his famous
sword Tizona, which he had won from the Moors. The marriage was celebrated
with much pomp and rejoicing, the king giving Rodrigo the cities of
Valduerna, Soldania, Belforado, and San Pedro de Cardena as a marriage
portion. When the marriage ceremony was finished, Rodrigo, wishing to show
his wife all honor, declared that he would not rest until he had won five
battles, and would only then really consider himself entitled, to claim her
love.

"'A man I slew--a man I give thee--
Here I stand thy will to bide!
Thou, in place of a dead father,
Hast a husband at thy side.'"
_Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).

[Sidenote: The Cid's piety.] Before beginning this war, however, the Cid
remembered a vow he had made; and, accompanied by twenty brave young
hidalgos, he set out for a pious pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, the
shrine of the patron saint of Spain. On his way thither he frequently
distributed alms, paused to recite a prayer at every church and wayside
shrine, and, meeting a leper, ate, drank, and even slept with him in a
village inn. When Rodrigo awoke in the middle of the night, he found his
bedfellow gone, but was favored by a vision of St. Lazarus, who praised his
charity, and promised him great temporal prosperity and eternal life.

"'Life shall bring thee no dishonor--
Thou shalt ever conqueror be;
Death shall find thee still victorious,
For God's blessing rests on thee.'"
_Ancient Spanish Ballads_ (Lockhart's tr.).

When his pilgrimage was ended, Rodrigo further showed his piety by setting
aside a large sum of money for the establishment of a leper house, which,
in honor of the saint who visited him, was called "St. Lazarus." He then
hastened off to Calahorra, a frontier town of Castile and Aragon, which was